Velvet Sundown: Spotify’s AI-Band Hoax?

Suspected AI Band hits 750K Spotify Listeners in weeks

A new retro-rock band, The Velvet Sundown, blew up with 750K Spotify listeners after dropping two ’70s-style albums—but now faces scrutiny as possibly being a fully AI-generated “art hoax.” The band initially denied it, but later acknowledged using Suno’s AI tools in their music production.

Key Points:

1. Meteoric Rise & Retro Vibe - With shaggy riffs and nostalgia-soaked lyrics like "Back Home Never Came," their debut albums mimic Led Zeppelin-era rock. In just weeks, they amassed an astonishing 750,000+ monthly listeners.

2. AI Suspicion Intensifies - Analysts and platforms like Deezer flagged their music as AI-generated. Their social profiles featured fake photos—AI images of “band members” holding hamburgers, fueling theories that the entire persona was scripted, not real.

3. Art-Hoax Confession - In a Rolling Stone interview, a spokesperson admitted the project was an “art hoax:” “It’s marketing. It’s trolling… fake sometimes has more impact than real”. They confirmed using Suno in song creation and called the stunt a statement on AI authenticity.

Conclusion
The Velvet Sundown’s story spotlights a major trend: AI-generated music can dominate streaming platforms—even without human artists. It raises urgent questions: Should AI music be labeled? Can “AI slop” push real artists aside? As listeners and platforms grapple with authenticity, this hoax may be a turning point for industry guidelines—both creative and regulatory.

Google Rolls Out Veo 3 Globally for AI Pro Users

Google has officially launched Veo 3, its cutting-edge AI video generation model, to Google AI Pro subscribers in 159+ countries via the Gemini app and Vertex AI.

Key Points:

1. Fast, Multi-Modal Creativity - Pro users can generate up to three 8-second videos per day, now combining high-fidelity visuals with synchronized audio, including dialogue, ambient sound, and music.

2. Enterprise-Friendly and Accessible - Veo 3 is available via Vertex AI’s public preview, enabling enterprise users to create cinematic video assets for marketing and internal use—already supported in partnerships like Canva integration.

3. Deepfake & Hate Content Concerns - Despite built-in watermarks, racist and antisemitic deepfake videos generated using Veo 3 have surfaced across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Media watchdogs noted this despite Google’s filtering efforts.

Conclusion

The global launch of Veo 3 marks a major milestone in generative AI video: cinematic quality, audio accompaniment, and enterprise access. But with rising misuse—including hate content and deepfakes—Google’s broadened release intensifies the need for responsible deployment.

🚀 Other AI updates to look out

• X Tests AI-Powered Community Notes with Grok

  X (formerly Twitter) is piloting AI chatbots like Grok to draft Community Notes for fact‑checking posts. Though AI-generated notes will still require human approval, experts caution about hallucinations and review overload. X believes this blend could significantly boost fact-checking reach.

• Oracle Strikes Massive Deal to Power OpenAI

  Oracle will provide OpenAI with 4.5 GW of U.S.-based data center power under the $500 B “Stargate” initiative—part of a $30 B/year cloud deal. This cements Oracle’s role as a key AI infrastructure provider, expanding beyond Microsoft and Google in the cloud wars

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